By Robert Williams

Editor

The Becker County Board of Commissioners appointed Mike Moe to the airport commission to fulfill the term of departing Mark Green until September of 2026. Moe joins a group made up of five volunteers including: Mark Hagen, Ross Gonitzke, John Okeson and Dave Sherbrooke.  ¶  The airport commission is a joint city‑county board with Detroit Lakes as an operating agent led by City Administrator Kelsey Klemm. Ownership is a 50-50 partnership between the county and city.  ¶  Moe was a graduate of the University of North Dakota where he earned his pilot license prior to joining the Air Force where he flew the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker. In the private sector, Moe flew for five different carriers over three decades before retiring from Delta.  ¶  Moe said his family has seasonal ties to the area dating to 1936 and that he and his wife moved to Detroit Lakes partly because of the airport. He elaborated on his aviation background and volunteering interests.  ¶  “I really love the airport here,” said Moe. “That was one of the big draws when Jean and I decided to move to Detroit Lakes—was the airport facilities.”  ¶  Moe described moving his operations out of Grand Forks while living there to Grafton to escape the busy nature of a larger airport for a smaller one.

Hagen was also in attendance and provided the board with an update on airport improvements and activity.

The airport recently completed a 13-year environmental assessment to make any improvements, according to Hagen.

Since then, improvements including a full‑length runway extension to 5,200 feet, taxiway work and obstruction removal on both ends, upgraded lighting and navigational aids and land acquisition. 

Maintenance equipment was updated and a medical helicopter building was constructed with county and city support and will be owned by the commission after a multi‑year payback arrangement.

“That will pay back in 10 years,” said Hagen. “We’re about 3-4 years into that now and after that time we’ll own the building and lease it to the company. There are 17 full-time equivalents working in that building to keep it going 24/7 so it was a good economic development thing for the city and the county.”

Hagen described a marked increase in fuel sales with much of those sales going to fuel planes used specifically for business.

“Prior to the expansion we were doing about 40,000 gallons of Jet A a year on average between 2015-19,” he said. “We’re now going to do about 95,000 gallons.”

The commission also built a dozen hangars in the last year and has a grant‑funded apron and a potential 95 percent grant to remodel the arrival/departure building under consideration.

Commissioners praised airport staff and the commission’s success in securing grants that reduced county funding needs. No additional county funding requests were made at the meeting; commissioners asked staff to continue tracking metrics that show airport economic activity and to report on grant outcomes as projects advance.